Pgman and the Brayton

Pigman and the Brayton

by Sandi Phillips

I stood there with my nose pressed to the window of the locked showcase. In it was a blue Brayton Mammy cookie jar. The price on the tag said $1,265.00! I wanted the jar so much! However, I live in the real world. That amount of money is the house payment, car payment, groceries or college tuition, not cookie jar money at our house.

That night I dreamed of the blue Brayton mammy! The next day I went back to the mall. I was standing there gazing wishfully at the jar when one of the employees came by. She said, “I thought you’d like this jar.” I told her I did, but I couldn’t afford it. “Pigman brought it in,” she told me. One of our customers collects pigs. He loves them so much that he goes proudly by the nickname of Pigman. He has been a customer of the mall for many years and has bought many pig items from my booth.

I got to thinking, maybe I don’t have enough money to buy the jar, but I do have pigs and for the commission there are the quarters I have been saving for my “someday” trip to Hawaii . . .

The next day I talked to the owner of the mall and asked her if I could approach Pigman about trading for the Brayton Mammy cookie jar. I told her that I would see that she got her commission and she said “No problem, go for it!”

Several days later Pigman came into the mall as arranged. I had a table load of pigs for him to choose from. We wheeled and dealed, and when the dust settled he had pigs, the owner had her commission and I had a Brayton Mammy in blue! Pardon the pun, but talk about being in “hog heaven!”

Now the blue Brayton Mammy sits on a shelf with a red Brayton Mammy that I bought many years ago (see the story on it, in the ACJA newsletter Fall issue 1999) and a Clay Art Bake Time Mammy.

I never thought when I first saw the blue Brayton that I would be able to add her to my collection. Pigman, I hope you are out there looking for another jar for me! I have more pigs and my Hawaii quarters are just about built back up!!

Click on the picture for a larger version!